Bob, and MOU,
Northern Bobwhite in Iowa are considered wild in the southern third
of the state, probably not wild in the northern third of the state,
and status uncertain in the middle third. I don't think it's clear if
the population in the northern third was ever truly wild, but if it
was, it probably waxed and waned with the severity of oldtime winters
back when the habitat was true prairie. Alas, today, birds found
there probably originated from game farm releases or escapees. The
DNR 2011 August Roadside Surveys found no birds in the northern 3
tiers of counties. Overall, Bobwhite numbers were down -36% from a
truly awful low in 2010, and now are at whatever low is beneath truly
awful. Most are confined to the southern third of the state, although
there is a finger of sparse distribution up the Missouri River Valley
in the far west.
The Iowa Breeding Bird Atlas project of the early 90s did detect a
few individuals in counties bordering Minnesota, but made no attempt
to classify the birds as wild or otherwise. Iowa is currently
involved in a second BBS project, and after 4 years there have been
no observations in any counties bordering Minnesota. Of about 150
observations statewide, only three have been in the second tier of
counties below the state line.
In my opinion, birds found today in Minnesota almost certainly are
not wild, at least, that would be the sensible position to take if
you served on a records committee, which is an unpleasant, thankless
job, which is why you have to hope only sensible people are appointed.
Paul Hertzel
Mason City, IA
At 11:00 AM 11/10/2011, Robert P Russell wrote:
Despite the MOU powers that be rejecting my Stevens County Bobwhite
record of 2 years ago for the trivial reason that it was on a game
farm (elk, not pheasant!!) and the bad personal funk that that
rejection resulted in, I decided to see what the Iowa Breeding Bird
Atlas had found on this species. Much to my surprise there appear
to be at least three Iowa locations where probably wild Northern
Bobwhite live within 7 miles of the MN southern border. One report
comes from the Iowa River drainage NNE of Lime Spring, Howard
County, Iowa less than 2 miles south of York and Bristol Townships,
Fillmore County, MN (if their pin placement is relatively accurate).
Another report comes from east of Lake Park, Dickinson Co. Iowa near
Spirit Lake within 4 miles of the MN border south of Sioux Valley
Township--try on MN state wildlife areas south of the town of Sioux
Valley. The third report is near Lester, Lyon County, Iowa
approximately 8 miles south of Steen, Clinton Township, Rock County,
MN. There are also bobwhite reported west of Rock County, MN in
South Dakota. So why not head SW this weekend and try to locate one
of Minnesota more enigmatic species that just might be recolonizing
areas to our south and poised to slip across the border or may
already have. Bob Russell finally getting over rejection now.
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